Author : Magpantay, Veneranda A.

Summary : A total of 559 adult Philippine mallard ducks were sampled from Davao del Norte, Iloilo, Pampanga, and Quezon for phenotypic characterization. Out of these, 120 individuals were used for SSR analysis. Ducks in the four provinces were morphologically diverse and exhibited moderate to high genetic differentiation with ducks from Davao del Norte and Quezon having the farthest distance. The phylogenetic analysis based on SSR showed that ducks from Davao del Norte and Iloilo grouped into one cluster, while ducks from Pampanga and Quezon grouped into another. A total of 175 female Pateros and Itik Pinas Itim mallard ducks were raised since day-old up to 40 weeks of age to identify SNP in FHSR gene associated with egg production. Itik Pinas Itim line has more uniform appearance, was significantly larger, and laid eggs one week earlier than the Pateros-type. The Exon 10 region of FSHR gene spanning 640 bp was amplified and was found to be highly conserved among the Anatidae family. Two nucleotide variants (p1664C>A and p1988G>A) were detected within the Pateros population but based on rare allele frequency only the p1664C>A can be considered as putative SNP. No consistent trend was observed for egg production traits. This is the first study to identify polymorphism in FSHR gene of Philippine mallard duck.